


Dramatic Re-Entrance

by PixelatedCroww



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, Break Up, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, High School, M/M, Reincarnation, lots of sadness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-26 20:42:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10794405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PixelatedCroww/pseuds/PixelatedCroww
Summary: Long after Yugi, Atem, and their friends saved the world from the untold destructions of Zorc, the gang find themselves reborn into the living world again, along with a few unexpected members of the cast. Few of the crew remember anything of their adventures in their previous lives, but one who does remember everything is Atem.When Atem finally reunites with his friends will he be able to help them set aside their differences and remember who they once were?(Aka the I just want them to be happy teenagers AU.)





	1. Entrance I

…

 _The scenery here was certainly different_.

This was Atem’s first thought as he and his parents rolled the moving truck into their new residences parkway as best as they could. The tall evergreen trees and vibrant colours of the flowering trees were a beautiful difference from the dull yellow sands of Egypt. The teen had seen pictures of areas like this, but pictures just couldn’t do the real thing justice.

What followed the initial parking of the moving truck was a very boring and tiring process of moving in, first the heavy furniture, and then with more heavy boxes from the truck into their new home. Their new home in question was a rather large two story house painted in such a dark brown tone that made it blend in a little bit too much with the trees surrounding it. Those trees also served as a general cut off between the houses, though not definitive. The neighbourhood itself was large, quiet, with tall trees that made the area very dark, Atem didn’t mind this.

Even though Atem and his family had sold a lot of their unneeded furniture and belongs, it still felt like it took an eternity to unpack all the things they did take with them into their new house; there’s only so much you can take with you on an overseas move. Atem and his family had started unpacking in the late afternoon, and it wasn’t until the late evening that the truck had finally been emptied. Atem’s parents then left to drive the moving truck back to the rental service, and grab something to eat on the way back. Atem took this time with his parents gone to finally plop down on the naked mattress in his new room.

Sore footed and tired, Atem lay on his bed, gaining a well deserved moment of relaxation after unloading all day. The teen could have easily dozed off right then and there, but the thought of finally opening his boxes and seeing his belongings again kept him from doing so. The sooner he started unpacking, the sooner he would be finished after all.

The inability to stand his greasy hair and sweaty pits was what finally made Atem sit up, deciding to go looking for the suitcase that had all the towels and such in it first. Even if he didn’t have any soap for either his hair or his body right now a nice rinse off would be much appreciated. So, Atem sat up, and took a few seconds to scan his new room.

Atem and his family managed to get a rental house in the area for cheaper then expected, and as soon as Atem’s family had seen the listing for the house go up, they got in contact with the landlord as soon as possible. The house had three bedrooms, and three bathrooms, and from the photos the landlord had sent them, Atem had a choice between either the bedroom upstairs, or the bedroom in the basement. Atem decided to take the basement bedroom, as the upstairs room was oddly shaped, and he wasn’t sure if he could fit all his shelves, desk, and bed into the room in a way that pleased him. His parents agreed, and Atem took the basement room, and the bedroom upstairs was to become his family’s guest room.

The basement room currently had Atem’s sheetless double bed in the corner, and across from the bed to the right was his dark wood desk, one large shelfing system on the left of the desk, and two more on the right, all right up against the wall. The shelves themselves were all currently empty, as to be expected. Next to the shelves right to the desk was a large closet, which would serve as a new home for Atem’s clothing, and other random things that were inevitably going to be stuffed in there at one point or another. At the foot of his bed already lay two big bean bag chairs, the one closest to the wall was covered in brown fur with green hands and feet with yellow claws and big purple eyes sown on; his name was Kuriboh. The other bean bag chair beside Kuriboh was a light pink, made of soft minky fabric with eyes, a mouth, and two circles of blush sown on; he was called Marshmallon, and Atem never used this chair for _various reasons_. Across from the two chairs was a low TV stand, which currently held Atem’s TV, with a slender and short shelf beside it which Atem had held his video games in before they had moved, it was empty right now, along with all the other shelves. Cardboard boxes laid still on the grey carpet of his room, along with his main suitcase of clothes. Atem stepped carelessly around the cluttered floor as he made his way to the door, headed upstairs.

Atem passed the main basement cave as he worked his way up the stairs, passing the front door and into the living room, which, like his bedroom, was a mess of cardboard boxes and suitcases currently. Spotting the suitcase that he was sure held the towels, he kneeled onto the floor and opened it, see that it did indeed hold towels, and took two out. He wasn’t sure if he should use the shower in the bathroom upstairs, or downstairs, and for a split second Atem wondered if the house even had any running water right now, only to mentally slap himself at his own stupidity, of course they had running water, he had been drinking tap water all day while moving in after all. Deciding to just go to the closest bathroom, he shuffled quickly down the hall to said bathroom, having to fiddle for a second with the unfamiliar lock on the door to get it to lock properly. Even though no one was currently home, Atem still like his privacy.

As Atem began to undress and figure out the shower for the first time, he began to recall his plans he and his family had for the next few weeks. It was currently the beginning of summer, the beginning of July to be exact, and within the coming weeks there was a lot planned. Tomorrow he and his family planned to spend most of the day shopping, mostly for groceries and a few other necessities. The next few days were planned to be days spent doing a lot of unpacking, and the following weekend was when the cable and internet for their house was to be set up, along with a meeting with their new landlord. The next week Atem’s parents would start their new jobs, which that had already secured well ahead of time. Atem would then have the rest of the summer off until he was to start going to school at the beginning of September. Atem’s mom had mentioned that he and her were going to met with the principle of the school before the school year started to get him introduced with the new school, but that wouldn’t be until the end of August, so he wouldn’t have to worry about that for a bit.

For now though, Atem didn’t want to worry about anything, he just wanted to enjoy the hot water hitting his tan skin before he had to start the second phase of the long unpacking process.

…

Atem and his mom did eventually end up meeting with the principle of Atem’s new school. He was a very humble man who could find the bright side in just about anything. He couldn’t give them a personal tour of the school as he was quite busy setting up for the coming school year, but some of the other staff who where at the school preparing for the new year gave him and his mom a tour of the building. Atem took note that the lady who gave them the tour said that they don’t normally give all new students tours of the school, but because Atem had come from such a distant country, and since his mom had gotten in contact with school so early, they had made an exception for he and his mother.

Atem was very much so impressed with the school throughout the tour, it was much cleaner and better presented then the school he had gone to back in Egypt, not to mention much larger. Atem had very much so been fascinated and amazed by the new country he was in, every time he went out he always seemed to find something new and interesting he had never seen before, and it kept him interested in the world. Either way though, Atem thought that the school staff were all pleasant enough, but what would really determine whether he enjoyed this new school or not was if the students acted the same.

After the tour Atem was given a class selection sheet, and Atem’s mom helped him pick out some elective classes that they could manage to squeeze him into. The lady who gave the pair their tour commented on Atem and his mom’s English, remarking about how good it was, and as Atem’s mom was quite the linguistic, it was no surprise. Atem’s mom’s and father’s professions both forced them to be able to speak English, so Atem picked up the language easily. Considering such a larger part of the worlds population spoke English it was almost needed for just about everyone to know it.

Two weeks later marked the start of the new school year, and Atem was currently standing in front of the mirror in his downstairs bathroom. Atem had quickly claimed the bathroom his own shortly after moving in.

“Atem, my sun, can I come in?” The boy in question jumped slightly at the sudden sound of his mother’s soft voice.

“Yes.” Atem spoke simply as he heard the door to the bathroom open, he guested he must have forgotten to lock it. His mother came to stand behind him. Atem truly did take after his mother, as she had the same golden blond bangs, and black locks of hair with velvet red highlight. Her hair was sickly straight and long, falling just past her mid back, while Atem’s stuck up oddly like he just been struck by lightening. Atem’s mother wore a lose long black dress, along with one of her nicer red coats overtop, also wearing an abundance of gold jewelry, her favourite.

“I just wanted to let you know I’m leaving for work.” She said simply. Atem nodded.

“Alright.” He replied simply back.

“Oh, and your bag is by the door,” She spoke again, “You look great today as well.” Atem smiled at her comment. He turned to finally face his mother, instead of looking at her through the reflection of the mirror.

“As do you.” He replied. His mother came into gently hug her son which Atem returned.

“Have a good day, and don’t forget to lock the door when you leave.” Atem let go of the hug.

“I won’t forget. You have a good day as well.” He stated proudly as his mother turned to leave the washroom.

“See you later sun.” Atem’s mother smiled as she left.

“See you later.” He replied, and a few moments later her heard the front door open and close, and soon after the starting of their car.

Atem turned back to the mirror to double check his presentation. Atem had decided on wearing a white button down with black pants that had one too many pockets on them, you can never have enough pockets after all. He fiddled a bit with his chunky gold earrings before finally deciding they looked fine. Atem checked his phone to see that he had spent a little too much time in the bathroom, and should get going if he didn’t want to be late today. Picking up his phone and placing it in his breast pocket, he brushed his cartouche that he proudly wore 24/7. He smiled fondly as he palmed the cartouche, feeling nostalgic.

Atem shook his head to snap him out of his daze, he got lost in his thoughts a little too often. Packing up his makeup bag and putting it away, Atem also double checked he had his deck on him, and when he felt the cards safely put away into one of his pants pockets, Atem then made his way upstairs to grab something to eat before leaving for school.

…

Atem got to school with ease. The walk was a little long, but at least he didn’t have to take the bus to school. Today wasn’t a full day of school, but was mostly acted as a day to get your schedule for the year and figure out where your locker was. The first day of school would start the following day.

Atem felt out of place suddenly as he saw many students catching up and talking amongst one another when he entered the school. It only seemed natural that he would feel out of place, he was new to this school after all, even new to this country. It wasn’t the most pleasant feeling. Atem’s social awkwardness told him to just go to his home room and wait for the bell to ring, so, giving into that awkwardness, he did just that.

Atem found his home room with the help of the listings on the wall, and once he made his way to the class room, he sat down with the few other students who were already there, waiting for the bell to ring. Atem pulled out his phone to distract him while he waited.

Within the next little bit the classroom began to fill, and when the bell finally rang Atem pocketed his phone and respectfully opened his ears to the teacher.

“Hello everyone, did you all have a good summer?” The teacher asked as she sat up from behind her computer, she got a weak response. Atem didn’t say anything, “Well, my name is Mrs. Glendale, I’m just gonna do a quick attendance and then I’ll give you all your schedules and you’ll be free for the day. It shouldn’t take long.” Atem zoned out for a bit until he heard his teacher say his name, or more or less, try to.

“Ah-Ah… Adam?” Atem looked puzzled at the teacher.

“It’s pronounced Ah-Tem.” The teacher smiled.

“Sorry Ah-tem,” She took a moment to pronounce his name properly, “Are you new here?”

“Yes.” Atem replied, nodding.

“Oh, welcome then.” And with that, the teacher continued, and Atem zoned out again.

…

No one had really taken notice to Atem during the home room, and Atem didn’t really mind too much, he could focus on making friends later. Right now though Atem was currently shifting his way through the halls heading to his locker, for the second time. It turned out that the school had accidentally given Atem and another student the same locker, so, when Atem ran into the other student at his supposed locker, Atem, being noble one let the other student keep his locker while he went to the office to report the problem. The office, after some time gave Atem a new locker and lock.

The office directed Atem to the fifth floor, where his new locker was to reside. Most of the other students had left to go home already, so the halls were fairly empty. Atem doubled checked the lock the office had given him as he took slow steps up the stairs. He opened a door that lead to the main hallway of the fifth floor, eyes scanning his lock until a sudden sound of footsteps made him look up.

Atem dropped his lock.

Clad in all black, wearing one too many belts, and spiked bracelets stood-

“Yugi?” Atem blurted out. The other boy had only a few seconds to even think before Atem had dropped his papers and rushed up to the boy almost tackling him to the group in a hug. Atem’s arms wrapped around him like he was trying to crush his bones, the other boy only being able squeak in protest.

Atem couldn’t think, he didn’t want to think. He didn’t know what had come over him, but all he knew was that he never wanted to let this boy go. Atem didn’t loosen his grip until boy tired to speak.

“S-Sorry!” The other managed to get out, and Atem, finally noticing the other boys distress stopped crushing him, but still did not let go, “I-I’m sorry,” The other boy spoke out, “Do I know you?”

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - 04/29/2017 – Hello there!  
> Have I broken your heart yet? Haha, I hope I have. <3
> 
> Hi there, my name is Crow, and I’m a giant Yu-Gi-Oh! Nerd. I recently got back into the YGO fandom after what like, 5 years when DSOD come out in English earlier this year, and well, shortly after that the idea for this fic came out and now I somehow managed to write the first chapter? I don’t know how I did it.
> 
> Either way, I’m not sure what else to say but thanks to like the 3 people who encouraged me to start writing this fic, I pitched it in a post on Tumblr and well, I guess like 3 people telling me to write this fic is enough for me to write the first chapter? I don’t know.
> 
> I hope you liked this first chapter, I’m sorry if there are any mistakes and stuff, I’m a one-man team ATM and I don’t have someone to edit for me, so all mistakes are my own. I have a lot planned for this fic, and I hope you guys will like it.
> 
> I don’t think I can promise any kind of update schedule, I guess updates will just come out when the chapters are done. Anyways, it’s late where I’m at and I gotta get up early tomorrow so I should maybe get some sleep. Thank you for reading! See you whenever I update again.
> 
> Best Wishes,  
> Crow~


	2. Entrance II

…

“I-I’m sorry,” The other boy spoke out, “Do I know you?”

_Do I know you?_

Of course he knew Atem, Yugi was his partner through and through. Atem chuckled, moving away from the other, laying his hands on the other’s shoulders instead of tightly clamping them around the punk’s diaphragm.

“What do you mean ‘Do I know you?’.”

The other frowned, a little put off by Atem’s persistence. Atem took a moment to notice the other had a mat black lip ring on the right side of his bottom lip. _It suits him_ , Atem thought.

“I mean,” The punk began, shuffling backwards a bit, trying to get away from the others gentle hold, “Have w-we met before?”

_Have we met before?_

Well of course they had met before. Atem snickered at the idea of Yugi messing with him, he wasn’t the kind to pull tricks on people. Atem and Yugi had met before, mind you it was in another life, but if Yugi had been reborn, standing right in front of him in 3D, didn’t that mean that he would…

The sudden excitement and adrenaline that had pulsed through Atem’s body the moment he saw his partner had vanished. His heart still beat out of his chest, but now for another reason. Realization had slugged him in the gut, and the shock of seeing the other again after a literal lifetime had changed into shock of the others reality. Atem’s eyebrows raised in concern, and the floor suddenly became very interesting to the Egyptian.

“Sorry,” Atem slurred out of habit. His gut twisted, he felt like an ice cube that had been splashed into hot water from his swift change in emotion. The stiffness of the situation for the other’s side slapped Atem, and when he peered up to the other’s bewildered lilac eyes, he understood he needed to change the topic, “You, just look like a… an old friend of mine.” The Egyptian lied. He slipped his hands from the other’s shoulders into his pockets, forcing a smile.

“It’s okay.” Yugi’s eyes drifted aside, “It happens to everyone.” Yugi’s kindness never cessed to amaze Atem.

“Yeah.” Atem let out, swallowing a lump in his throat. His eyes did not move from the human in front of him. He looked just like Atem had remembered, same thunder struck, plum hair, same pale skin that made him look sickly, same large gentle eyes. Atem could keep going, but then he’d be there all day. Atem didn’t take his eyes off the other as he waited for him to say something. The silence had lasted four seconds already, which qualified the moment to be considered “Awkward”. Atem bit his lip.

Yugi’s foot shifted to the side, signaling to Atem that he wished to leave. Atem bit down on his lip harder, and clenched the insides of his pockets with his fingers. He continued to stare the other down, not wanting him to leave.

“Sorry for the misunderstanding.” Yugi muttered, beginning to step away. Atem stood in place, following the pale skinned boy with his eyes as he walked around him. Atem swallowed again, feeling his eyes get damp as he heard the other’s heels click on the floor, walking away. The Egyptian heard some shuffling of objects, but he ignored them, feeling like he was going to bit his lip off to keep himself from crying. He snapped from his position when he felt a sudden tap on his shoulder.

“Umm…” Yugi spoke, Atem swallowed again, glad that the other hadn’t left yet, but still, heartbroken. He turned to face the other, determined not to weep in front of the already confused enough Yugi, “You dropped your things.” Yugi murmured, his eyes drifting again, Atem never recalled him having that habit in their past time. The punk held out Atem’s papers and lock, and Atem noticed them instantly. Again, his kindness amazed him.

“Oh… th-thank you.” Atem’s voice warbled.

“No problem,” Silence, “Uhh… see you soon?” Yugi stammered. Atem blinked quickly to push away his tears.

“See you… soon.” Atem said softly, his eyes not leaving the other yet again until he was out of sight.

…

Atem had never raced home faster. He could not believe it.

_He had finally found him._

Even after the thousands of years he had been around, it still felt like he had spent a life time looking for his other half.

After the punk had left Atem’s sight, the adrenaline started pumping again, and he mad a dash to find his locker to get it set up as soon as possible. He found his locker easily in his rush, setting his lock onto it without even taking a moment to inspect it, and dashed down the stairs out of the building.

The normally twenty-minute walk took about twelve with Atem sprinting uphill through his neighbourhood. A seeping brew of sadness, excitement and confusion bewildered him until he finally got home.

He ran past a few adults, and others who were confused by Atem’s mad dash. He kept blinking at a rapidly to keep his eyes clear of tears. He couldn’t tell which emotion was causing him to cry, but right now he was just trying to keep himself from breaking down in public. Rearing around the last corner to get to his house, Atem whipped his eyes, catching a blond-haired figure in the corner of his eye on the other side of the road while he ran up the driveway to his home. Checking at least four different pockets in search for his keys, he finally opened the door, carelessly slamming the it behind him. Once he was inside he finally allowed himself to collapse down to his knees, catching his breath he had lost long ago.

“Home, aren’t we?” Atem heard his dad chime in front the living room; he had obviously heard the door slam. Atem’s dad worked from home, so it didn’t surprise Atem to see him home so early in the afternoon. Atem jumped at his father’s words.

“Father!” The former king squeaked, racing up the stairs to the living room, still panting. Atem’s dad, Aknamkanon peered up from the computer seated on his lap, his eyes instantly filling with concern when he saw Atem’s wheezing form, eyeliner and foundation smudged from the few tears and sweat that did escape his eyes and skin.

“What’s wrong son?” Aknamkanon spoke.

“Yu… Y-Yugi!” Atem managed through his raced breaths. Atem’s dad now had set aside his computer, rushing up to his son.

“What about Yugi, son?” His dad spoke, placing his much larger hands on his son’s shoulders. Atem swallowed again, finally feeling a few tears run down his cheeks. Atem always tired to put on a good face for his father, but right now with his smudged makeup and pouting lower lip, he didn’t think he looked too good. Aknamkanon could care less about his son’s appearance right now, he was more concerned as to why he was on the verge of tears… scratch that, already crying. Atem took a deep breath in, looking to his father.

“I found him.” Atem spoke with as much confidence as he could muster, unaware of the salty tears that were currently dripping down his face. His dad’s face didn’t change expression at the statement, but he did question.

“You found him! Shouldn’t that be good?” His father asked. Atem swallowed.

“He doesn’t remember me.” Atem replied. He dropped his head, letting his tears down freely now. His father sensed his son’s calls for comfort, and pulled the much smaller king into a hug.

Atem stayed in his father’s arms for a while before he finally calmed down. The first thing he had said to his dad afterwards was sorry for getting eyeliner and tears all over his shirt. He then explained to his dad how he had run into Yugi at school, and went on to tell him about how the situation went down, explaining his emotions and thoughts as he rambled.

The more Atem explained the situation, his feelings, and thoughts, the more questions began to appear. Questions like, why was he here of all places? How come he didn’t remember Atem? Did he even remember anything? If Yugi was here, then were his other friends here too? Or were his friends somewhere else? Was Yugi still friends with Honda, Anzu and Jounouchi? Did any of them remember anything? With each question came at least two more, and no matter how many he spouted at his father, his father could not answer any of them, and nor could Atem.

By the time Atem had finished rambling he felt lightheaded, feeling a fresh set of tears coming. His dad offered to put his work aside to stay with his son for the rest of the day, but Atem felt bad stopping his father from his work, and decided to head down to his bedroom. His father didn’t let him leave without a glass of water, and a hug, which Atem was thankful for.

With a cool glass of water in a shaky hand, Atem made his way downstairs into his bathroom, unable to stand the feeling of his smudged makeup and puffy eyes. He washed his face down with cold water. Although he did not hate his appearance without makeup, he did not like how puffy his eyes became due to his crying. The redness of his eyes he didn’t mind though, because his eyes were always a bright red naturally anyways.

His once white button down now had a large black stain on it from his eyeliner, along with some less noticeable smudges of foundation, tears, and other makeup products on it. Atem decided that he should wash that now while it was still fresh and easy to get out, he might as well get his dad’s shirt from him and wash them at the same time. After that, he had some things to look through.

…

Atem sat at his desk with his head in his hands, thinking too many things at once. He had washed his and his dad’s makeup stained shirts a few hours ago, and as soon as Atem had thrown the two shirts into the wash with a few other things to make a full load, he had come back into his room. He then got down onto his knees to get into the bottom shelfs of his bookcases.

Most of the shelves on Atem’s bookcases held things like board games, and puzzles that he had, and oddly enough, only a few books he collected over the years. He had played each of the board games on his shelves at least once, along with solving each of the puzzles on the shelves. The bottom shelves of two of his bookcases held binders and stray notebooks, each labeled and organized by mostly years. Currently about three of the probably twenty binders were scattered across Atem’s desk, each opened to random pages. Atem’s needlessly gold painted laptop sat with, I don’t know, at least thirty-nine tabs open in the corner of his desk. Stray papers littered his desk and floor, some crumped, some ripped, and Atem could say strongly that his cluttered room wasn’t helping his stress.

He felt stupid. Why couldn’t he figure it out? There had to have been some way for Atem to have figured out the other one was here, except, there wasn’t.

Atem knew everything there ever was to know about Yugi. He had spent a good year and a bit with him saving the world from Zorc oh so many years ago, and he was very sure he had the rest of his life recorded thoroughly, so why didn’t he know anything about his life now?

Ever since Atem was about thirteen years old, when he had been finally being mature enough to understand these memories about his past lives, he had dedicated himself to finding out everything there was to know about Yugi, and the life he lived after Atem had left for the afterlife.

It started off as a pure curiosity search, it wasn’t difficult to find things on Yugi Muto’s life, after all, he had made quiet the name for himself even before and after Atem had left his partners side. To be brief, after Atem had gone back to the afterlife, the first thing he found after that event was a report of Seto Kaiba’s newest duel disk model, along with a great duel that had taken place in the CEO’s Kaiba Corp. Stadium. Atem wasn’t sure if he had saved the world from this Aigami guy Seto and Yugi had dueled against, but he liked to think his little partner had saved the world all on his own. They grow up so fast.

After Yugi had graduated high school, he went on to presumably work with his Grandpa at his game shop, and eventually create games of his own. Atem was about 99% sure that he owned all the games and puzzles Yugi had created during his lifetime. It was like a treasure hunt for Atem during his initial years of research, finding each new game, saving up his money and looking for copies online of the now much older games. Sometimes he even managed to get the games brand new, but he always paid a fortune for those ones. (Not to mention the shipping to Egypt) Then after he had acquired each game, it was down to understanding the rules, mastering them, and then beating the crap out of his friends and family on game nights, but no amount of great games and fond memories of his partner could have ever prepared him for how Yugi’s life had ended.

Yugi, along with Anzu, Honda, Jounouchi, Seto, Mokuba, and countless others who lived in Domino city passed when a horrifying event known has Zero Reverse destroyed Domino city. From what Atem’s research could find, the disaster was caused when an energy generator overloaded and destroyed the city. Atem couldn’t believe his eyes when he read those headlines in articles for the first time “King of Games Yugi Muto killed in Ener-D overload. Thousands of casualties reported.” According to the dates on the articles, Yugi and most of his friends would have only been 33 when their lives had ended. He couldn’t stand the unfairness of the situation. If there was anything Atem wanted for his partner and all his friends, it was to be able to live a full a happy life, especially after how unfairly his own first life had ended. Maybe that’s why he and Yugi had been reborn, because both had had their lives cut short by the cruel hand of fate.

If there was ever a cherry on top of the cake of disaster though, it would have been the fact that Kaiba Corp. was behind Ener-D, the energy generator that had killed the city. At first Atem blamed Kaiba for the death of his friends, but after some thinking, if there was one thing that Kaiba could not stand, it was the torture and killing of innocent people, that fact was shown strongly enough when Kaiba had defended him and the people of ancient Egypt in the memory world by summoning the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Atem couldn’t blame Kaiba after remembering that fact.

It soon became Atem’s main hobby to find out everything there was to know about Yugi and his life before and after he had come into the picture, and the binders filled with dates, events, self made explanations, and almost every single last detail of his adventures with Yugi and his friends written down into a chronology of the true King of Games’ life proved that point. Knowing that Yugi truly had been reborn suddenly made the fact that he had basically recorded his entire previous life suddenly made it all seem very creepy.

It soon hit Atem that if he had been reborn into this world, then wouldn’t have Yugi and his friends been reborn too? Atem’s parents had been reborn after all, so what about the rest of them? Well, if earlier today said anything, it was that that fact was true. Atem had looked for evidence of the King of Games’ reincarnation everywhere after this thought crossed his mind, but no matter how much he searched, nothing ever came up. Atem thought that if Yugi had been reborn with his memories, wouldn’t he have claimed that title again? Come out of the closet to say? He had never guessed that Yugi wouldn’t remember his previous life. Maybe Atem should have done some more research on reincarnation. Then again reincarnation was a bit of a taboo topic, the only people who had ever believed Atem about his memories were his parents, because they too had been reincarnated themselves. Maybe if Atem had talked about reincarnation, say, maybe three thousand years ago more people might have believed him, but in this age, people where much quicker to raise an eyebrow at the subject, regardless if it was real or not.

Atem rubbed his temples with his thumbs. He could feel a headache coming in; maybe he should have drunk some more water. Looking to his desk, he eyed the glass of water his dad had given him. He saw that it was half full, and grabbed it lazily, taking a few sips. Placing the glass down again he noticed the hardly readable notes in front of him. These were the result of the past few hours, and the page itself was filled with bullet points, arrows and far too much white out; maybe he should start using pencil instead of pen. Many other pages like this lay either ripped up of crumpled over his floor and desk, each one trying to piece together small things he knew about Yugi’s reincarnation. There wasn’t much to go on, and the page was more like a journal of his thoughts and theories of the reincarnation process. It frustrated Atem to no end to know so little about reincarnation despite of the fact that he had been through it himself.

The Egyptian frowned at the paper covered in his chicken scratch; it was about time that this paper got the same treatment as the others, and it was crashed into a paper ball in Atem’s hands within seconds. Tossing the paper in some uncared direction, the Egyptian heard a sudden knock on his door. He sat up in his chair, garnet eyes wide.

“Atem, can I come in?” Atem’s mother spoke from the other side of the door.

“Yes.” Atem replied quietly, his voice gravely and rough from all the loud noises he had made today. His door opened, and his mother, looking just the same as she had this morning, stood in his doorway. She would normally be put off by the messy state Atem’s room, but that didn’t concern her today.

“How are you feeling? Your father told me what happened.” Atem blinked.

“I’m… alright.” Atem spoke. Atem’s mother sighed, taking a few steps into her son’s room.

“You know you can tell me how you feel Atem.” She saw through Atem’s obvious lie. The previous king heaved.

“I feel awful,” He stated truthfully this time. His mother was now sat on Atem’s neatly made bed. She did not say anything for a moment, and Atem thought that she was waiting for him to say something else, but she really did not know what to say to her son. Atem eventually spoke up again, “I don’t get it.”

“Get what?” His mom pried. Atem turned in his chair to face his mom.

“I don’t understand this whole situation!” Atem threw his hands up, “I don’t understand why Yugi’s here of all places,” Atem stopped speaking, but his mother’s silence made him continue. He silently thanked her for not speaking, he had a lot on his mind he needed to get out. Atem continued, “I don’t get why he’s here. Shouldn’t he have been reborn somewhere closer to his home in Japan? Like how we were reborn in Egypt?” Atem’s mom nodded, and the smaller king took in a deep breath, feeling like he was going to start crying again, “I’ve thought that maybe it was fate that made us move here, since he’s here,” Atem sniffed, “But I can’t help but think that fate is cruel since… since.” Atem huffed, wanted to cry again, but the tears did not seem to come. The king bit his lip, and his mother took it as her turn to finally speak.

“Fate can be very cruel at times Atem,” Atem bit his lip harder; he had been doing a lot of that today, “Fate was cruel to me when it took away my chance to be with you,” Atem heard his mother pull in her own shaky breath, he did not want to see his mother cry, “But that is why I am so glad to have the chance to be with you now. Fate can be kind too Atem.” Atem couldn’t help but agree. Ahset, his mother had fallen very ill shortly after he was born in their first life, and due to Atem’s young age, he never remembered anything of her. He blamed fate for taking his mother away in his first life, but he soon grew to appreciate every moment he now had with his mother and father in this new life.

Atem wrapped his arms around his mother’s neck, hugging her. He did not want to see her cry. Even if she wept with the grace of a goddess, he still did not want to see any negative emotions fall onto his mother. Ahset returned the hug instantly.

“You should be glad you found him,” Her voice wavered, Atem cringed, “Despite what fate has fallen on you two, I think you should take it as a welcomed challenge.” Atem became confused, still hugging his mother.

“What do you mean?” He asked. Ahset pushed back, her eyes misty as she looked determined at her son.

“Change fate,” Atem blinked, “Who says you can not become friends with this new Yugi?” Atem looked to the floor.

“Fate,” Atem swallowed, “What if fate says I can not become friends with him?” Ahset sighed.

“Atem, look at me,” The sudden sternness in her voice made Atem obey, “What did I just say.” Atem suddenly felt small.

“Change fate?” He repeated.

“Yes,” Ahset smiled, her voice wavering again, “Change this fate. Make your own fate,” Ahset took hold of her son’s hand, “Make him remember who he was.”

With that, Atem’s soul had new found determination.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN – 04/05/2017 – Heyyyyyyyyy.
> 
> Hey, look who’s back with a new chapter of this shitty AU, it’s meeeeeee.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. I’m sorry if things are moving a little slow right now, I have a feeling it might take a bit for this story to pick up and get interesting, so bare with me please.
> 
> I’m writing this AN after I finished editing this chapter BTW, I think it gives me a little bit more time to think about what I want to say about each chapter and stuff.
> 
> I don’t have much to say about this chapter though, maybe besides the stuff about Zero Reverse. I don’t know much about the other YGO series as I’ve never seen any other YGO anime besides the first one, call me a YGO gen oner I guess. I do know the basic premise of each YGO story, and I recently watched @YugiohMemories on twitter’s theory about the YGO timeline. In it he said that Yugi and most of the cast from the original YGO and YGOGX should have died due to Zero Reverse, so, since I’d like to believe at least the first three YGO series are canon I decided to work it into this fic. It actually ended up working better then I thought. So props to Dylan from @YugiohMemories for that, I suggest you go watch that video if you haven’t.
> 
> Also, I’ve been thinking a bit about how this story is gonna go, and I think I’m going to estimate that this story will be over in 20 chapters. I feel like that’s gonna be a good goal for me, but don’t worry, I won’t try and rush the story to get it to fit into 20 chapters. So yeah.
> 
> Anyways, it’s been an overwhelming week for me so far, so I’m just gonna go relax for a bit. See you all in the next chapter.
> 
> Best Wishes,  
> Crow~


End file.
